5 Tips on Applying to Scholarships

While searching for scholarships myself I came upon this cool article on tips that will help you win scholarships. I got the article from Fastweb, a scholarship search site. Here is what it said.

Cal Poly : San Luis Obispo

By now, you know that winning scholarships is hard, like really hard. You feel like you’ve applied for countless scholarships with zero results, and you’ve nearly given up on winning anything along with your dream of going to or finishing college.

So what can you do?

If you haven’t heard this already, you’re hearing it now: winning scholarships is a numbers game, and the more you apply, the better your chance of actually winning. Essentially, if you want to win a scholarship  giving up is not an option; no matter how tired, frustrated or rejected you feel because of the process.

So here are some tips:

• Be honest with yourself: how many scholarships have you really applied to – a couple, five, 10? Those numbers aren’t going to cut it. If paying for school with scholarships and financial aid is really so important to you, then devote more time to your applications. If you’ve been applying to one scholarship a month, that’s not enough. Spend a half hour every day on applications or a few hours a week; whatever works best for your schedule. Lets say you end up with 2,000 dollars in scholarships and you have worked 40 hours on scholarships, if you do the math that's 50 dollars an hour which is way better than any job will pay. 

• Look for more search options:Are you exhausting all of your scholarship search options? If you log onto Fastweb and merely look at your scholarship matches, that’s doing nothing to help you win a scholarship. Look at all of your scholarships and mark those that interest you and actually apply for them. Visit the site frequently too — don’t wait months to log back on.

Cal Poly: San Luis Obispo

• Search in your community:  Reach out to your high school guidance counselor once a month and ask him or her about community scholarships. Scour your local newspaper for scholarship opportunities, and don’t shy away from entering contests, sweepstakes or promotions with a dollar prize. You can use that money for school too! 

• Every little bit counts:When you see a scholarship for $500, do you skip over it and look at the scholarship for $10,000 instead? Here’s a little secret: scholarships with a smaller award amount don’t get the same volume of applications as a $10,000 scholarship, meaning your odds are better. So don’t skim over the small amounts – that’s $500 less you have to pay for college, right? And if you win several $500 scholarships, that can really add up.

• Get a head start on next year: Some scholarships aren't renewable so get a head start! Being prepared for next year will give you better options and there are thousands of scholarships for undergraduate students!

*Photos where taken by my friend when he was at Cal Poly SLO. 

Scholarship Bulletin: April

As most of us find out where we are going to college it is important to keep looking for scholarships to pay for the ever increasing tuition rates. Yet no dream college should be given up because one can't afford it. That is why I will keep posting scholarships in hope that you guys will find these useful.

* University of California Berkeley

Holocaust Remembrance Project Scholarship
Award Amount: $100-10,000
Deadline: April 15, 2011
Requirements:
* High School student 9-12 grade, 19 years or under
* Submit an essay
* Open to all residents of the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands.
http://holocaust.hklaw.com

Yoshiyama Award for Exemplary Service to the Community
Award Amount: $5,000
Deadline: April 3rd of each year
Requirements:
* Graduating high school seniors must be nominated.
* Must demonstrate self motivation, leadership, creativity,
dedication, and a commitment to pursuing community service.
* GPA, SAT scores, and school clubs do not count
Log-on to website for complete details.
www.hitachifoundation.org

Salvadoran-American Leadership & Educational Fund: SALEF Education for Excellence Program
Award Amount: $500- $2,500 awarded annually
* Applicants must be Salvadoran, Central American, or other
* Overall GPA should be at least 2.5
* History of community service and involvement
* Open to high school, undergraduate, & graduate
Students. Undocumented students are encouraged to apply.
http://www.salef.org/

Lanzate Travel Award Program
Award Amount: 4 Roundtrip tickets to and from University
Deadline: April 30
Requirements:
* Must be a student at two-four year college/University
* Have a 2.5 or higher G.P.A.
*Undergraduate and Graduate students are eligible to apply
http://www.hacu.net/hacu/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=764&SnID=214592862

CCNMA

*University of California Berkeley

Award Amount: $500-$2,000
Deadline: April 2011
Requirements:
* For California Latino students interested in journalism and
attend or plan to attend a California college
* Social Security number asked for, but student may receive award
without it
http://www.ccnma.org/

The Duracell/National Urban League Scholarship
Award: $10,000 + Paid Internship
Deadline: April 15, 2011
Requirements:
* Open to minority students focusing in engineering, sales,
marketing, finance and business

AAJA General Scholarship Award
Award Amount: $1,000 & $7,500
Deadline: April 20
Requirements:
* Graduating seniors, undergraduates, and graduate students with a
focus on journalism
* Must demonstrate financial need and journalistic ability
http://aajaonline.tumblr.com/

Davis Putter Scholarship Fund
Award Amount: up to $10,000
Deadline: Postmarked by April 1st of every year
Requirements:
* Open to graduate and undergraduate students
* Must demonstrate financial need
* Must demonstrate participation in expanding civil rights, economic
justice, and international solidarity
* Visit website for more details


World Studios Foundation Scholarships
Award Amount: Varies
Deadline: April 1, 2011
Requirements:
* Open to disadvantage or minority college students who are
currently enrolled at an accredited school
* Major requirements: see website for details
http://scholarships.worldstudioinc.com/

A.W. Bodine-Sunkist Memorial Scholarships
Award Amount: $2,000
Deadline: April 30th of each year
Requirements:
* Students entering any undergraduate grade level
* Must have a background in CA or AZ agriculture (you or someone
in your immediate family must have derived the majority of your/their
income from agriculture), financial need, and a minimum 3.0 GPA.
Selection is based on test scores, essay, and references

The Hispanic Engineers National Achievement Awards Conference
Award Amount: Varies
Deadline: April 30, of every year
Requirements:
* Students must be majoring in math, computer science, material
science, engineering or applied science
* Must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher

*Embarcadero, San Francisco

Transportation Clubs International Scholarships
Award Amount: Varies
Deadline: May 30th, of each year
Requirements:
* Award can be used at institution in Mexico, US and Canada.
*Must attend a four year institution
*Must intend to pursue a career in logistics, civil engineering,
transportation
*Must have finished at least one year of undergraduate studies
http://www.transportationclubsinternational.com/scholarships.html

HENAAC Graduate and Undergraduate Student Leadership Award Scholarship
Award Amount: $500- $5,000
Deadline: April 30, 2011
Requirements:
* Applicants do not have to be of Hispanic descent
* Must be enrolled in an accredited university or college, High
School senior
* Applicants must be Science, Technology, Engineering or Math
* Applicants must have an overall grade point average of 3.0 or
higher
http://www.greatmindsinstem.org/henaac/scholars/docs/2012HENAACScholarsApplication.pdf

MEChA de UC Riverside Alumni Scholarship
Award Amount: $300.00 one time (3 awards)
Deadline: April of each year
Requirements:
* Student must be either a high school senior with a 3.0 GPA,
transfer student with a 2.8 GPA
* UCR student currently enrolled with a 3.0 GPA or above.
* AB 540 high school students with a min. 3.0


Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity: Tau Chapter Scholarship
Award Amount: $500
Deadline: April 18th of each year
Requirements:
* Award offered to a high school senior of Hispanic origin. Student
must have a 2.5 GPA or higher and accepted to CSU Dominguez
Hills for the Fall term.

California’s Wine Grape Growers Foundation Scholarship

Peace Tower Japantown, San Francisco

Award Amount: $2,000- $4,000
Deadline: April of each year
Requirements:
* Parent/Guardian must be employed as a vineyard worker by a wine
grape grower in CA during the past and current seasons.
* It is recommended that you already be in the process of establishing
residency
* Must submit application, 2 page essay, transcripts, letter of
recommendation, and SAT/ACT scores.
* Must be a graduating high school senior in 2008
*** May require a social security number. Call to inquire***
www.cawg.org/cwggf/
Contact:
Carolee Williams (916) 379-8995


The Cuban American Scholarship Fund
Award Amount: $1,000
Deadline: April 15
Requirements:
* Full-time student of Cuban descent
* 3.0 GPA required and recipients must be California resident,
enrolled in a college or university for the fall semester
* Must be U.S. Citizen or resident of California.

Graham-Fancher Scholarship
Award Amount: $300
Deadline: April 30,
Requirements:
* Student graduating from a high school in Northern Santa Cruz
County. Recommendation from a counselor required.
Call for details
Attn: Robert Daryl
149 Josephine Street, Suite A
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 423-3640

SALEF Fulfilling Our Dreams Scholarship Fund
Award Amount: 1,500 (Renewable for 4 years)
Deadline: April 30
Requirements:
*Reside and study in California
*Be a high school senior, undergraduate, graduate or professional
student.
* Be of Central American or other Latino etnicity
*Demostrate financial need and history of community service.

Most of these scholarships are taken from the MALDEF website check it out if you have any questions. Good luck on your search!
*All photos taken by me when I visited Berkeley.

College Guru

Alliance/Merck Scholarship: DEADLINE EXTENSION

The Alliance/ Merck Scholarship is a great opportunity for Hispanic students interested in the sciences. The Program will annually provide 10 promising Hispanic high school students from Brownsville, TX; Elizabeth, NJ; and Los Angeles, CA with $42,500 in college scholarships and internship support to pursue STEM degrees. If you live close to one of these areas please check out the website for your school might still qualify. In addition, the program will annually provide 25 Hispanic college students nationwide majoring in a STEM field with $2,000 scholarships. The scholarship is open to all students regardless of citizenship.

*University of California at Berkeley

THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO:

March 31, 2012 

Click Here to visit the The Alliance/ Merck Scholarship website.

Please make sure to take full advantage of this wonderful opportunity. 

*Photo taken by me at Berkeley.

College Guru

Scholarship Bulletin: March

 Scholarship Bulletin: March

These are some scholarships coming up on march my main reference is the MALDEF Scholarship list (I linked it so you guys can take a look at it). These Scholarships are some of the many AB 540 friendly scholarships out there that don't require any social or citizenship.

Princeton University*

CALIFORNIA:

Orange County Hispanic Education Endowment Fund Scholarship Program (HEEF)

• Award Amount: from $250 - $5,00
• Deadline: March 4
• Requirements:
  * Award offered to Orange County Hispanic students with
  financial need at all levels of education.
  * Students may apply to more than one scholarship program but
  they may only receive one fund or program
• website: http://www.heef.org/scholarships/index.htm

Beca Foundation General Scholarship Fund

• Award Amount: $500-$1,000
• Deadline: March 2011
• Requirements:
  * Must be a resident of North San Diego County
  * (General) High School Senior entering 2 or 4 year university
  * (Medical Program) Available for students pursuing a degree in a
  medical related field
• website http://www.becafoundation.org/scholarship.htm

New American College Fund

• Award Amount: up to $5,000
• Deadline: March 1st
• Requirements:
  * Foreign-born, Documented Financial need, Lived in California for
  3 or more years of their high school career
  * Anticipated or previous graduation from a Bay Area high school
  * Minimum unweighted GPA of 3.0
• Website: http://www.e4fc.org/scholarsprogram/scholarsinstructions.html

Princeton University*

TELACU Education Foundation

• Award Amount: $500-$2,500
• Deadline: March 19
• Requirements:
  * Student must be from LA City, East LA, Montebello,
  Commerce, Bell Gardens or Monterey Park.
  * 2.5 GPA
  * Must be low income and first generation college student
  * See website for Regional Requirements
• Website: www.telacu.com

Youth Opportunities Foundation Scholarship

• Amount:Varies
• Deadline: March 31
  * Awards are given based on academic achievement and community
  involvement. Must be a CA resident and demonstrate financial need
  * Available to HS students with SAT scores of 1000 or above
  * Must be of Hispanic origin
• Contact: Felix Castro, PO Box 45762, Los Angeles CA 90045, (310) 670-7664, (310) 670-7664, Fax: (310) 670-5238 

GENERAL Scholarships after the break

QuestBridge Scholarship for High School Juniors

For all High School Juniors looking for something to do during the summer and worried about senior year and college take a look at this scholarship:

QuestBridge Prep Scholars:

The College Prep Scholarship program provides awards to help academically talented low-income juniors become successful applicants to top colleges. This year, we're selecting more than 1,500 College Prep Scholars who will receive awards such as:  

• Full scholarships to college summer programs at Brandeis, Emory, Harvard, Stanford, Notre Dame, Penn, and Yale
• Invitations to our College Admissions Conferences at Northwestern, Princeton, and Stanford
• All-expense-paid visits to our partner college campuses 
• College admissions counseling from QuestBridge staff or current Quest Scholars
• Telementoring with Amherst College students
• Quest for Excellence awards such as new laptops

The application will be available at the QuestBridge website  and is due on March 27, 2012. As always, it is completely free to apply. 


Take a look at the flyer:

Make sure to visit their website QuestBridge and don't miss out on this great opportunity. Undocumented students this is a great opportunity to make yourself more marketable to colleges and meet great people at great schools. As a QuestBridge National College Match recipient I can assure the legitimacy of the program and how much they have helped me to achieve my dreams. 


College Guru

100% Need Base Colleges for Undocumented Students

To start off the blog I'm uploading my personal list of colleges (given to me by a friend) of some elite colleges in United States that give a lot if not full financial aid to undocumented students. Hope it helps all those juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen out there!

Need 100% Based:

• Amherst – SAT: 1955 – 2300 / ACT: 30-34 :   Acceptance 15%:  Yes - International
• Barnard  - SAT: 1865 – 2150 / ACT: 28-32 : Acceptance 31%: Yes - International
• Bates – SAT: Optional /  ACT: Optional /  Interview – Recommended:  26%  : Yes – International
• Bowdoin: SAT 1970 – 2240 / 31-33: Recommended Interview : Acceptance 19%: Yes - International
• Brown University: 1970-2285 / 29-34: Acceptance  11% : Yes - International
• Bryn Mawr: 1760-2060 / 26-30: Acceptance 48%:  Yes - International
• California Institute of Technology 2180 – 2345 / 33-35: Acceptance  15%:  Yes  - International
• Campbell University: 1340-1700 / 19-24: Acceptance  36%:  Yes – International
• Carleton College: 1970-2240 /29-33: Acceptance  30%: No – International
•  Carroll University: 21-26:  Recommended Interview – Undocumented Apply as Regular Student 
• University of Chicago: 2045 – 2330 / 28-33: Acceptance  27%: Yes – International but not guaranteed 100% for INT.
• Claremont McKenna College 1925 – 2240/ 29-33 Acceptance: 17.2% Yes – undocumented student must fill out and print FAFSA application/CSS profile, contact Jennifer Sandoval directly/ admission is need-aware so if students get any outside aid it is better to tell admission office
• Colby College
• Colgate University
• Columbia University
• Connecticut College
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth College
• Davidson College
• Duke University
•  Emory University
• Franklin and Marshall College
• Georgetown University
• Gettysburg College
• Grinnell College
• Hamilton College
• Harvard University
• Harvey Mudd College 2120-2320/ 32-34/ Acceptance – 32.05%, Yes – international must also submit a copy of tax return along with CSS Profile, admission is need aware
• Haverford College
• College of the Holy Cross 
• Lafayette College
• Lake Forest College
• Macalester College
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Middlebury College
•  Mount Holyoke College
• The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Northwestern University
• The University of Notre Dame
• Oberlin College – undocumented students are consider international students, only about 15% of students are accepted… Financial aid packages include grants/loans/workstudy… They only complete one additional form when applying, diversity fly-in programs are available beginning senior year
• University of PA – undocumented students are considered international students, there admission policy is need aware so it is competitive
• Pitzer – only 1 scholarship available for undocumented student, student must be nominated by high school counselor, minimum GPA of 3.5, 4 yrs at a California high school, must represent community involvement
• Pomona College – 2090 – 2315/ 31-34/ Acceptance 16.14% Yes – undocumented students will receive aid, admission is need blind for all students graduating from a US high school, they will also meet 100% financial need
• Princeton University
• Reed College 1910-2195/ 29-33/ Yes – undocumented students are consider international, very limited aid
• Rice University – undocumented students are consider international students, a limited number of need based aid is available. Students are also eligible for all merit based scholarships  Rice has a fly in program for diverse students, it is by invitation only, they need to see grades at test scores
• University of Richmond – undocumented students are consider international students, each year there is limited need based aid, they are also eligible for merit based aid except for the ARMY ROTC scholarship
• University of Rochester – they offer financial aid for Mexican undocumented students, not sure about other countries…
• Scripps College – 650-750 – they only look at math and verbal/ Yes- undocumented students are consider international, they don’t have money set aside for them but if they are admitted they get a full ride all four years
• Smith College – diversity programs at Smith - Women’s in distinction, discovery weekend – only for admitted applicants, summer science program for juniors, undocumented students are accepted under need aware admission like everyone else, very limited amount of scholarships available.
• St. Olaf College – undocumented students are consider international students, they offer up to full financial aid on a limited basis, they also have a multicultural director her name is Desiree Keenan and they can possibly fly in kids beginning junior year
• Stanford University 2000-2300/ 30-34/ Acceptance 7.97%: Yes – undocumented students must apply as international student, 100% aid is not guaranteed for any income level
• Swarthmore College – financial aid is available, once admitted they will get full aid
• Trinity College – Acceptance rate is 31%, undocumented students are consider international students, the school is need aware during the application process but once you are admitted they will meet your needs 100%, contact Mandi Haines
• Tufts University – aid is offer for undocumented students
• Vanderbilt University – For diversity students you can contact Brandi Smith and the school can offer travel waivers up to $250.00 to visit the campus. Yes – undocumented students are consider international students, there is no 100% need based aid
• Vassar University – aid is offer for undocumented students
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Wellesley College – Yes – undocumented students are international students, aid is very limited and you cannot apply ED or EA
• Wesleyan University 2040 – 2350/ 31-34/ Acceptance 20.5% Yes – undocumented students are consider international students, only 15 students can receive financial aid, about 400 students apply, it is a very tough selection
• Williams College 
• Yale University 2090-2360/ 30 -34 Acceptance 8.56% : Yes – International, must fill out CSS profile, total income must be less than $60,000

The list isn't finished because we are still working on it. Please let me know your thoughts to improve it!

College Guru

For Undocumented Students

Hi students,

I want to start off the blog by saying that I myself am a student and so I know everything everyone is going through and how hard it is to get into college. I wanted to start a blog to help students reach their goals and go to college. I know it's hard but we cannot let our bright futures be diminished by our circumstances. Education is the way to achieve one's goals and I believe that in order to reach those dreams one has to work hard through everything life throws your way. Don't let a simple no discourage you in your path to success because we all deserve it.

This blog will mostly concentrate in news, scholarships, and opportunities for undocumented students. I believe that the lack of resources out there is part of the reason undocumented students are discouraged in their path to college and so I am trying to change that. I will try to update the blog weekly and when anything important happens. I want to make this a dynamic experience so feel free to comment and ask questions.

College Guru